Comparison of Viremia, Cloacal Virus Shedding, Antibody Responses and Pathological Lesions in Adult Chickens, Quails, and Pigeons Infected with ALV-A

Abstract

Subgroup A of the avian leukosis virus (ALV-A) can cause severe pathological lesions and death in infected chickens, and its reported hosts have increased recently. To assess the susceptibility of adult chickens, quails, and pigeons to ALV-A, three sets of 250-day-old birds were intraperitoneally inoculated with ALV-A. Viremia and cloacal virus shedding were dynamically detected using an immunofluorescence assay (IFA), ALV-P27 antigen ELISA or RT-PCR; pathological lesions were assessed using tissue sections; ALV-A in tissues was detected by IFA; and ALV-A antibody responses were detected using antibody ELISA kits and an immune diffusion test. The results indicated that persistent viremia occurred in 80% (8/10) of infected chickens, and transient viremia occurred in 17% (2/12) of infected quails, but no viremia occurred in infected pigeons. Cloacal virus shedding occurred intermittently in 80% (8/10) of infected chickens and in 8% (1/12) of infected quails but did not occur in infected pigeons. Severe inflammatory pathological lesions occurred in the visceral tissues of most infected chickens, and mild lesions occurred in a few of the infected quails, but no pathological lesions occurred in the infected pigeons. The ALV-A virus was detected in the visceral tissues of most infected chickens but not in the infected quails and pigeons. Obviously different ALV-A antibody responses occurred in the infected chickens, quails and pigeons. It can be concluded that adult chickens, quails and pigeons have dramatically different susceptibilities to ALV-A. This is the first report on artificial infection by ALV-A in different birds.

Avian Toll-like receptor 3 isoforms and evaluation of Toll-like receptor 3–mediated immune responses using knockout quail fibroblast cells

“…Japanese quail ( Coturnix japonica ) have become the focus of many biological studies because of their relatively small size, fast sexual maturation, and abundant egg production ( Huss et al., 2008 ; Seidl et al., 2013 ; Choi et al., 2014 ; Shin et al., 2015 ). In addition, Japanese quail have been used as an animal model for studying susceptibility, transmission, and pathogenesis of various avian viruses and are highly susceptible to influenza A viruses ( IAV ) and many other viruses including Newcastle disease virus and avian leucosis virus ( Thontiravong et al., 2012 ; Sharawi et al., 2015 ; Susta et al., 2018 ; Zhang et al., 2019 ). Thus, quail can serve as a great avian transgenesis model to study gene functions in relation to viral pathogenesis.…”

Regulatory effects of chicken TRIM25 on the replication of ALV-A and the MDA5-mediated type I interferon response

“…ALV, an oncogenic retrovirus, can cause immunosuppression, decreased production performance, tumours and even death in chickens [20][21][22][23]. ALV is divided into 11 subgroups from A to K according to the host range, antibody neutralization and receptor interference studies, and seven of these subgroups, namely, ALV-A/ B/C/D/E/J/K, can infect chickens [24][25][26][27].…”

“…In this study, DF1 cells were inoculated with the ALV-A-SDAU09C1 strain, which was isolated from imported ancestral breeding broiler chickens in 2009 [ 19 ] and was reported to replicate in DF1 cells and to be pathogenic in chickens [ 19 , 20 , 37 ]. The expression of chicken TRIM25 at both the mRNA and protein levels was significantly increased, which suggests that the antiviral responses mediated by TRIM25 were induced.…”

“…To determine the titres of ALV-A in the cell supernatant samples or in the plasma samples, the P27 antigen of ALV-A was detected using an ALV P27 antigen ELISA kit (IDEXX USA Inc., Beijing, China) as described [ 20 ]. In brief, 1 mL of the dilution fluid from the kit was added to the samples, and the samples were subjected to three freeze–thaw cycles.…”

A Comprehensive Review on the Common Emerging Diseases in Quails.

“…Avian Leukosis Virus (ALV) could induce tumors in Japanese quails (Wight, 1963) and quails with lymphoproliferative disease had antibodies against ALV subgroup A (Schat et al, 1976). Recently, it was observed that intraperitoneal inoculation of quails with ALV subgroup A induced transient viremia, intermittent cloacal shedding and mild lesions in infected quails (Zhang et al, 2019). Quails are susceptible to experimental infection with reticuloendotheliosis virus (Theilen et al, 1966).…”